The unprecedented level of patients flooding into some of the capital's A&E units has led to a dramatic increase in waiting times, with 10 per cent of patients left waiting for over four hours to be seen. This length of wait for the NHS in London is not expected until mid December.

The document, which was leaked to the Health Service Journal, emerges after it was revealed that the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel, east London, could not accept even emergency patients due to a severe shortage of beds for two days earlier this month. It was forced to operate a one-in, one-out policy in order for patients to be seen.

According to the Guardian, Len Richards, chief operating officer of Barts Health, the NHS trust that runs the hospital wrote in an email to staff:"No beds available for emergency patients. No beds available for elective patients. An extremely poor discharge picture."

In the week ending 8 September, almost 5 per cent of patients waited for four or more hours to be admitted or discharged, meeting but not breaching the government's target.

Earlier this summer, the government announced a two-year £500m cash injection to aid hospitals struggling to cope with additional A&E patients during winter months.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham accused the Prime Minister last year of using "smoke and mirrors" to claim he was aiding hospitals following a reduction in next year's allocated emergency funds to help NHS hospitals from £330m to £250m.